Silver Stars & Green Eyes

Sitting on the bed, overlooking the big window she can see the first signs of spring: the birds coming out to sing, the leaves on the branches of the trees, slowly covering them in green and the shy rays of sunshine coming through the clouds after the cold and ruthless winter. And although she could see the world outside, she never felt more stuck, stuck in this world where she had to follow rules, to be someone and something she is not. The princess, that's who she was. Skylar Rose Lancaster, Her Royal Highness The Princess of Evernight, with hair black as the night and grey eyes as the stars that twinkle in the sky. The night she was born the sky was full of them, that’s where her name came from, and her middle one was from her mother’s favourite flower.

Skylar got up from her bed and went straight to her bathroom to make herself presentable, knowing that soon there would be knocking on her door with the breakfast. And not even 10 minutes after, the maid was knocking and entering her room with the food, she thanked her, sat down on her bed and started eating.

After, Skylar picked up a book, not just any book but the one that contained the prophecy. The prophecy that bounded her to this castle and this world. It went like this:

“A child born of gold,

With stars in her eyes

Will find what was sold

And return it to the Ice.

But beware of the greed

Inside the heart of the power

For together the two of them will find

That power and stars will

Conquer and rise.”

The rest of the page where the prophecy was written was torn as if there was more to know about this but someone was hiding it. Skylar was the child born of gold with stars in her eyes, a call to her being a daughter of rich parents and having grey eyes, and of course, return it to the ice, another call to her parents blue, icy eyes, a colour that only royals could have. So when she was born with grey eyes, it was clear who she was meant to be.

Her grey eyes were the rarest of the kingdom. People with grey eyes had extraordinaire powers of lightning, they could manipulate energy and the night, maybe that’s why she has always felt more comfortable in the darkness.  

She looked back down at the book and her annotations and went through the second verse again. The words greed and power could be referencing someone with green eyes, seeing as these individuals were known for having this same characteristic, for being extremely powerful, for having the ability to influence people and to be able to manipulate the earth. So according to the second verse of the prophecy, Skylar and someone with green eyes, together, would be able to conquer whatever came their way.

Her job was to find this person so that the guards could dispose of him because they would be too dangerous together. At least that what her parents told her. Her parents, she thought, never really showed any emotion towards her unless it had something to do with the prophecy. Skylar wanted to leave this place so desperately, she wanted to get out of this world to find something or someone that would fill her soul to the brim with happiness and love. She was tired of the empty looks filled with nothing but pity that the people in the castle would give her.

Like every other in her life, the day came and went and locked in her room studying the book that would help her discover the person with green eyes and find what was sold. This being an artefact that King of Evernight sold to the rebels centuries ago because he needed money to bring back his kingdom after the Great War.

With the darkness outside and no light on in her bedroom, Skylar held up her hands and closed her eyes, out of her hands' hundreds of little silver sparks appeared and floated to the ceiling. After taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes a looked up, on the ceiling, there was a beautiful night sky with hundreds of stars sorted into different constellations. Skylar smiled, laid down on her bed and fell asleep.

The next morning she woke up startled, with a look at her window she saw that it was still early, the sun was only now coming up. She rubbed her eyes and when she turned her head to her nightstand, she noticed a little paper. She sat up and read it, her eyes slightly widening in the process:

“Dear princess,

I heard you were looking for me.

Meet me by the fountain in the garden today at nightfall.

I have a proposition for you.

Let’s conquer and rise.

Your friend,

R.E.L”

Her mind was running wild with all the possibilities. Who was it? How did they get the note inside her room? This was so obviously about the prophecy and that only made her interest pique even more. The whole day was spent with her doing her chores, while her mind was elsewhere. She knew that finding this person would also seel their fate but at the same time, it looked like they had other plans with that last sentence from their note.

The moment the sun started to paint the sky in an array of colours, Skylar started to prepare for her encounter with this mysterious person. She left her room and made her way to the garden where a fountain dedicated to her mother stood. She sat near the edge looking at all the little fishes that freely swam inside of it.

The freedom these fishes had, that’s what she desired most in this world, to travel without having to give satisfaction to no one, to be able to do what she wanted and not everybody else wanted her to do. But then again, what these fishes had was only an illusion of freedom, they were still stuck inside this fountain just like she was stuck inside of this castle, this world. This was limited freedom, one that wasn’t controlled by her, but that it was controlled for her.

“I see that I piqued your interest with my note princess.”

She turned around and from afar she could see someone standing in the shadows. – “Who are you?”

“I’ll tell you my name when you agree to my proposition.” – he smirked.

“And what makes you think that I’ll accept a proposition from someone that doesn’t even show himself?” – she asked.

He stepped out of the shadows and the first thing she noticed about him was his beautiful and electric green eyes, along with his brown hair. This person had to be about the same age as her but a lot taller than her. – “Because I can prove to you that I’m the one you’ve been looking for in that prophecy of yours.” – he said.

“And would you do that?” – she asked.

“Here see for yourself” – he extended his hand to her and gave her a piece of paper.

Skylar’s eyes widened – “This is the lost part of prophecy!” – she looked up at him – “Where did you get it? Never mind that, how does this prove that you are you I’m looking for?”

“Maybe if you read it instead of babbling, you’d find out princess.” – he replied with an eyebrow raised.

“You’re a funny one you” – she said sarcastically. Skylar looked down and started to read the paper:

“Power be aware, green is his colour

For with his half, it will rule

But tragedy will strike

And alone it will end.”

“What does this even mean?” – she asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“I’ll explain it, princess. Ever heard of the Lowell Twins?”

Her eyes widened in recognition of what he was talking about, she nodded her head – “Yes, of course, they were the first pair of twins born with green eyes in centuries, people said that they were incredibly powerful.”

“Well, they were right about that princess.” – he sent her a smirk.

And all of a sudden it was like a light had gone on in Skylar’s head, she looked him up and down, her mouth dropping open.

He laughed – “Glad you finally got there. Standing in front of you is Rixon Everett Lowell at your pleasure princess” – he bowed. – “So going back to the little paper that I gave you, the first line refers to the colour of my eyes and the rest of it refers to how my twin sister died.” – he finished.

“Well she didn’t exactly die” – he looked at her - “She was murdered.”

Skylar sucked in a breath in shock.

He continued – “So what I’m offering you here is the chance to get out of here, to get out of this world and come with me. We will join forces in avenging the death of my sister.”

“Why would I join you when I’m protected here I don’t even know you” – she said.

“You may not be aware of what’s happening outside of this castle but not everything is pink and roses princess. Everybody knows how desperately you want to get out, everybody knows how they treat you, I’m offering you the chance to get your freedom and in return, all I ask of you is that you’ll come with me so that together we can conquer and rise to every and any challenges.” – he answered her.

Skylar knew that somehow she was trading a prison for another yes he was offering her freedom but it wasn’t freedom like the one she desired it was freedom like the one she had now, like the one the fishes in the fountain had. A  freedom that would be ruled by Rixon.

“Look Skylar” - she looked up at him a little startled that he used her real name for the first time – “There are things people don’t tell you” – Rixon continued – “You've been told lies all your life and if you want to find out the truth all you have to do is come with me.”

Rixon extended his hand to her and looked at her.

Skylar stood up, head tilted upwards to look straight into his green eyes, her mind was reeling from all the information she just received and she didn't know what she would do, but she knew for sure that she would have to give up her future, a future that she would have built for herself.

She took his hand and in doing so Skylar once again, gave up her freedom in pro of other people.